The Theme of Motherhood in the Novel «Zuleikha Opens Eyes»

by Guizel Yakhina

Irkabaeva Feruza Makhkamovna

, Sultonova Nadira Rustambekovna

Usmanova Anastasia Andreevna

, Irkabaeva Firuza Zhumanali Kizi

and Alikulova Raikhon Abdizhabbarovna

National University of Uzbekistan named after Mirzo Ulugbek, Uzbekistan

Department of Russian Literary Studies, National University of Uzbekistan named after Mirzo Ulugbek, Uzbekistan

Keywords: Theme, Novel, Heroine, Image, Episode.

Abstract: The article is devoted to the analysis of the theme of motherhood in the novel «Zuleikha Opens Her Eyes» by

the modern famous Russian writer Guzel Yakhina. This study includes an analysis of the theme of motherhood

as one of the main ones in the novel, which is revealed through the image of Upyrikha, which is key to the

plot outline of the novel.

1 INTRODUCTION

Guzel Yakhina’s novel «Zuleikha Opens Her Eyes»

published in 2015, is the writer’s first major work,

which reflects the turning point in Russia’s history –

dispossession and resettlement, based on real events

that happened to the writer’s grandmother. The novel

tells the story of the socio-political events of 1930 -

dispossession and deportation to extremely remote,

uninhabited corners of the country. The novel

describes one of the bloodiest and most complex

historical processes on the territory of Russia,

affecting various nationalities (Russians, Tatars,

Germans, Chuvash) and sectors of society (peasants,

intelligentsia, officials, doctors), which are skillfully

combined with the story of the fate of the main

character of the novel.

The theme of Guzel Yakhina’s novel “Zuleikha

Opens Her Eyes” is wide: the fate of a person in the

whirlwind of historical events, the theme of sacred

motherhood, the theme of equality (inequality) of

men and women, the theme of spiritual insight and

awakening and transformation of the system of moral

values, the theme of love, the theme of man’s attitude

to religion.

The main character of the work is a young Tatar

woman, Zuleikha, who has spent fifteen years of her

family life leading a monotonous and tedious life, the

whole day of which is filled with chores around the

house, unquestioning fulfillment of household orders,

uncomplaining submission to an oppressive mother-

in-law and a rude husband. However, the resettlement

became the starting point for Zuleikha’s new,

unknown life. The author of the novel shows a

generalized type of eastern woman from a remote

Tatar village: uneducated and submissive, believing

and preserving the culture of her people, against the

backdrop of large-scale political events. The way of

thinking of the main character of the novel is

transformed along with the change in Zuleikha’s

lifestyle: the author raises the question of the

ambiguity of the negative impact of political reforms

on the fate of ordinary people.

2 METHODOLOGY

One of the key and controversial images in the novel

is the image of Upyrikha, presented as a woman-

mother through the prism of magical realism.

Upyrikha is a blind old woman who gave her

entire life for the benefit of her only son, who

survived the Great Famine. Upyrikha embodies the

image of a selfless, strong woman-mother, capable of

doing anything possible for the sake of her child.

At the beginning of the novel, the author reveals

to us the image of Upyrikha through the retrospective

view of Upyrikha herself: in a conversation with her

beloved son, the mother recalls her former youth, the

courtship of her future husband, the author paints us

Makhkamovna, I., Rustambekovna, S., Andreevna, U., Kizi, I. and Abdizhabbarovna, A.

The Theme of Motherhood in the Novel »Zuleikha Opens Eyes« by Guizel Yakhina.

DOI: 10.5220/0012663200003882

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 2nd Pamir Transboundary Conference for Sustainable Societies (PAMIR-2 2023), pages 46-50

ISBN: 978-989-758-723-8

a completely different image of Upyrikha: young,

perky, brave, beautiful: «As your father saw I drooled

all the way down to my waist and forgot to wipe it

off»( Basinsky 2015) // «I had the most beautiful

apron in Yulbash... and a monisto in two rows across

my chest//That summer they played kyz-kuu...well,

I’ll catch up with him, as usual, I’ll whip him to his

heart’s content: If you didn’t manage to catch up with

the girl, pay up and get it!» (Breininger 2022).

One of the significant passages of the novel that

reveals the image of Upyrikha is an inserted episode

- Upyrikha’s memory of the difficult times of the

Great Famine, including cannibalism. The upyrikha

tries to assure Murtaza that the blood brothers and

sister died their own deaths: «We didn’t eat them. We

buried them. Themselves, without a mullah, at night...

And that there are no graves, I’m too tired to explain

to you that that summer everyone was buried -

without graves» (Pustovaya 2019). The author leaves

the truth of Upyrikha behind the scenes, does not even

reveal her thoughts to us, but it becomes clear that in

fact, everything was exactly like this: «Those who

spread these vile rumors about you and me have long

since become the earth themselves» (Pavlova 2018)

This fact complements the image of a selfless mother

who, in an extreme situation, behaved harshly and

categorically: she saved her youngest child,

sacrificing her older children: «Everything that was in

me, to the last drop, I left for you. At first they tried

to fight - they wanted to take your breasts by force.

They were stronger than you. And I was stronger than

them. And I didn’t give you offense» (Ibragimova

2020).

3 FINDINGS

The image of Upyrikha is represented by cruelty

towards Zuleikha. The mother-in-law hates her

daughter-in-law: she reproaches her for her inability

to give birth, slanders Zuleikha by beating her,

endlessly terrorizes her with household chores, and

finally, with gloating, predicts her «…quick death at

the hands of the three fiery farishte» (Sirota 2020)

whom she saw in a dream. The image of Upyrikha is

simply filled with maternal fear for her son, which

manifests itself in hatred of her daughter-in-law for

her inability to give birth to an heir for Murtaza. The

old woman cannot afford to die only because

Zuleikha is afraid to leave her son to the «wet

chicken»(Yakhina, 2020) Upyrikha demonstrates the

instinct of motherhood and preserving the family

even after her death, appearing to Zuleikha in the

form of a ghost. Left to the mercy of fate, it would

seem that the old woman should soon die, which,

most likely, happens behind the scenes of the plot, but

in the novel for Upyrikha, place and time know no

boundaries.

The image of Upyrikha, as the key one in the plot

outline of the novel, is a conductor of cultures - past

and modern, helping Zuleikha not to get lost in the

new world. This image is a symbol of female

perseverance, wisdom, strength, and motherhood.

This image is the first to reveal the theme of

motherhood as one of the main themes of the novel,

which is realized through several models of

relationships between mother and child. This mainly

concerns the “Mother-Son” model using the

examples of the images of Upyrikha and Murtaza,

Zuleikha and Yuzuf. The image of motherhood is

revealed in the first part of the novel “Wet Chicken”

using the example of the “Upyrikha-Murtaza” models

and in the three subsequent parts “Where?”, “Live”,

“Return” using the example of the “Zuleikha-Yuzuf”

model.

The love of Upyrikha and Zuleikha for their sons

is the same in its manifestation: deep, selfless,

boundless, however, there is a huge difference in the

mothers who love their sons - in accepting their child

as an individual with his own destiny.

The upyrikha literally merged with her son so

much that she perceived the arrival of her daughter-

in-law painfully acutely: «The upyrikha, with

martyrdom on her face, herself dragged her numerous

chests, bales and dishes to the guest hut. I didn't talk

to him for two months. That same year, she began to

quickly and hopelessly go blind, and after some time,

she began to go deaf» (Yakhina 2020). The scene in

the bathhouse speaks of jealousy, when the old

woman herself asked her daughter-in-law to steam

her with bath brooms, and then complained to her son

that Zuleikha had beaten her: «For what? - The ghoul

bends her mouth like a steep rocker, two large shiny

tears roll out of her eyes, she falls to her son and

shakes silently. I didn’t do anything to her»( Yakhina

2020) Thus, the author portrays the image of the

mother-in-law as hard-hearted and cunning.

However, the description of a sincere evening

conversation between mother and son radically

changes the idea of Upyrikha. A completely different

image appears before us: a woman, having listened to

her son about the next upcoming pogrom of the Red

Army, instills hope in him, assures him of her own

strength and intelligence: «You are strong, Murtaza,

my boy. Strong and smart, just like I was» (Yakhina

2020). The dialogue turns the ordinary mother-in-law

Upyrikha into a mother, loving and beloved, due to a

shift in the angle of view: the image of the mother-in-

The Theme of Motherhood in the Novel »Zuleikha Opens Eyes« by Guizel Yakhina

law - grumpy, despotic – is presented by daughter-in-

law Zuleikha, and the image of a loving mother is

depicted by the objective author-narrator. The author

sharply reversed the negative impression of

Murtaza’s mother, recreated from the first pages of

the novel.

4 ANALYSIS

During the dialogue between mother and son, the

author uses the technique of retrospection, which

helps to quite fully and succinctly recreate the image

of Upyrikha, covering the main milestones of a

woman’s life: youth, marriage, the Great Famine.

We can say that the heroine's monologue about her

past is a short story in a novel, which has its own

small set of plot elements: prologue - words of

reassurance to her son, plot - memories of past beauty,

attention from potential suitors, development of

events - memories of a competition at games with her

future husband, about marriage, memories of the

Great Famine, the climax - the mother’s vows that she

did not kill or eat her older children to save the life of

the younger Murtaza, the denouement - the

conviction in the strength and intelligence of her son.

By personal confession, Upyrikha claims that «...she

gave birth to ten for her husband, and the last one for

herself» (Yakhina, 2020) Most likely, the last one

became her last maternal love, whose life she wanted

to preserve at all costs, even despite the suffering

from hunger of her older children: «At first they tried

to fight - they wanted to take your breasts by force.

They were stronger than you. And I was stronger than

them. And she didn’t hurt you, but they died. All.

There was nothing more» (Yakhina, 2020).

Upyrikha convinces her son: «We didn’t eat them.

We buried them. You were just little and forgot

everything»( Yakhina 2020). But precisely because of

these beliefs, according to Murtaza’s doubts,

according to Upyrikha: «Those who spread these vile

rumors about you and me have long since become the

earth themselves», it becomes clear that in fact

Upyrikha killed the elders so that the younger one

could survive.

This moment in the novel puts the theme of

motherhood in a difficult position: killing everyone

for the sake of one. Most likely, such a brutal act does

not justify the mother, but gives this image

exceptional selflessness, mixed with callousness and

coldness.

Then, to the existing characterization of Upyrikha,

another most striking element is added - the eternal

maternal fear for the life of an already adult child:

«You and I will stay in this house, my heart, and we

will live for a long time. You are because you are

young. And I - because I can’t leave you alone». This

fear, perhaps, will be the important reason why

Murtaza will not set off with the rest of the settlers:

she will remain with her mother in the same house.

Zuleikha, as if through a genetically programmed

code, is transmitted from Upyrikha the maternal fear

for the child, which appeared from the moment the

doctor reported that the woman was pregnant and

which accompanies her throughout the entire novel.

This fight for your life in the name of your son’s life,

and the fight for his life, for his health, together

pushes the theme of motherhood to its peak.

However, the spiritual transformation that occurred in

Zuleikha, after which she “opens her eyes,” allows,

not immediately, of course, to assess the situation

differently: the mother is ready to let her son go for

the sake of his future. The eternal maternal fear

described in the novel loses out before the mother’s

sincere desire for a better life for her son.

So, two women-mothers have a number of

similarities and a number of differences. Upyrikha’s

love for her son is selfless, deep, but bordering on

fanaticism, a love that has been formed for centuries

in the conditions of Eastern culture. Zuleikha’s love

for her son is also deep and strong, but it grew up in

different conditions - in a different reality, which

changes both the heroine herself and her view of

important spiritual categories. The young woman

understands that her son’s stay in the settlement

brings with it unfreedom (physical and moral) and

makes a decision in favor of Yuzuf’s freedom.

The image of Upyrikha in the novel is the main

artistic framework on which the method of magical

realism will be applied, including dreams,

predictions, and ghostly visions. The image of

Upyrikha is an image of dark forces. At the very

beginning of the novel, the image of Upyrikha,

introduced by the author as a barely visible silhouette,

casts doubts on the reality of the existence of the

image. The reality of existence is, of course, then

confirmed, but the ominousness of the image is filled

with the heroine’s ability to see the future through

dreams. The prophetic dreams of Upyrikha

«...strange, sometimes creepy, full of hints and unsaid

visions in which the future was reflected vaguely and

distortedly, as in a cloudy, crooked mirror» come true

after a while.

Due to her abilities, the heroine receives the nickname

Upyrikha, “old witch.” The external portrait

characteristics of the heroine – blindness and

deafness, which are easily compensated for by the

rare ability to see in advance – have a special

PAMIR-2 2023 - The Second Pamir Transboundary Conference for Sustainable Societies- | PAMIR

additional effect. So, we can say that the image of

Upyrikha gradually becomes a “gray eminence” in

the movement of the plot, anticipating the main

events of the novel: predictions about the Holodomor

in 1921, a big fire in the village, the death of four

granddaughters - the daughters of the main character

of the novel.

5 DISCUSSIONS

One of the striking examples of this is a dream

predicting the departure of the main character from

her husband’s house: «You will die soon, you saw it

in a dream. Murtaza and I will stay in the house, and

three fiery farashte will fly after you and take you

straight to hell» (only Upyrikha interpreted it not

quite accurately - as the daughter-in-law being sent to

the underworld, but she guessed the fact itself -

leaving).

A similar image is the image of the ghost of Upyrikha

- the main line of the novel, anticipating events,

warning against wrong actions, sometimes

frightening, but always deeply meaningful. The

ghostly image of Upyrikha is scattered throughout the

novel in five parishes associated with the key events

of the novel.

For the first time, Zuleikha does not see the image of

the ghost of her mother-in-law, but hears her muffled

call: «Zuleikha-ah! – Upyrikha’s voice is heard from

afar, as if from underground. «Zuleikha-ah!».

Zuleikha perceives her mother-in-law’s voice as a cry

of indignation for the adultery of infidels taking place

around her in the holy mosque. The second arrival,

the image of the mother-in-law is filled with

efficiency in the mother’s work, watching the

anguished screaming hungry child Zuleikha and

suggesting that the child needs to be fed differently.

Having once survived the times of the Great Famine,

Upyrikha did anything to save her son from hunger,

and the situation with Zuleikha is not new for her

mother-in-law. The arrival of the ghost of the mother-

in-law is represented by the words: «It was as if the

wind had breathed, and the long shadows running

from the stove door began to quiver, sway, and fidget.

Upyrikha sits with her elbows on her sharp knees

spread out to the sides». The third coming of the ghost

of the mother-in-law is caused by anger and

indignation for the feelings of the widowed daughter-

in-law for another man, moreover, for the murderer

of her husband, the ghost of Upyrikha anticipates a

future criminal connection, in her opinion, calling

Zuleikha “fehishe”.

Note that the heroine does not experience any fear or

the slightest fright, she takes the event for granted, as

part of everyday life - which is a sign of magical

realism.

The next fourth arrival of the ghost of Upyrikha

confirms the inclusion in the realistic narrative of the

novel of a supernatural element that cannot be

explained from the position of the usual laws of the

universe, which includes a warning about the danger

threatening the son of the main character (the moment

Yuzuf is surrounded by wolves).

The last fifth coming of the ghost of the mother-in-

law is associated with creating the effect of the

presence of a magical world, achieved through a

realistic description of unusual images or situations.

The main character of the novel enters into dialogue

with the old mother-in-law, who instantly became a

wise mother-in-law in Zuleikha’s mind, hugging «...

a powerful body, burying her face in something warm,

dense, muscular, living, feeling strong hands - on her

back, on the back of her head, around yourself,

everywhere, which then strangely turns out not to be

a ghost, but an old, gnarled larch».

In the last fragment of the arrival of the ghost of her

mother-in-law, a radical revolution occurs in the

consciousness of the main character of the novel:

Zuleikha finds the answer to the question that

tormented her for so long about why her mother-in-

law went to the dense urban area: «It was a long time

ago, she was a stupid girl... She was looking for death

- salvation from unhappy love. I came to Urman, but

she was not there, death».

In this short but meaningful dialogue, the image of

Upyrikha is transformed from an ominous one,

predicting terrible prophecies, cruel and ferocious

into a deeply unhappy woman who has not known

female happiness. This dialogue also contains the

final debunking of the image of the forest as a

supernatural place, the abode of evil spirits. Although

the main character began to become convinced of this

on her own during the first and subsequent hunts for

living creatures, while picking berries for her son, the

words of Upyrikha became the final chord in the

transformational thought flow of Zuleikha.

The first appearance of Upyrikha in the novel is

represented by a «barely distinguishable silhouette in

a black doorway», and the nickname of the harmful

old woman - Upyrikha - refers to this image as a

demonic one. This reference closely connects the

image of Upyrikha and the image of the forest, which

at the beginning of the novel was filled with sacred

meaning in the worldview of the main character, as

the abode of evil spirits. It is paradoxical that at the

same time «…the dense urman, the windfall thicket,

The Theme of Motherhood in the Novel »Zuleikha Opens Eyes« by Guizel Yakhina

the abode of wild animals, forest spirits and all sorts

of evil spirits» also plays a saving role in the life of

the villagers of Yulbash during the Great Faminе.

6 CONCLUSION

The image of the forest in Zuleikha’s mind is

represented as a certain place where supernatural

things happen, in which «...prayers do not work. Pray

or don’t pray, it’s all the same – you’ll perish». Thus,

the image of the forest is certainly associated with the

image of imminent death, then, while in Siberia, in

subsequent chapters Zuleikha «opens her eyes» and

in the heroine’s mind the image of the deadly forest

is replaced by the image of fertility, the image of

which makes it possible to find food, and therefore

the opportunity to live: «In the spring and in the

summer she carried fat grouse and heavy geese with

thick elastic necks from the taiga» (Yakhina 2020).

The image of the forest ceases to be a sacred place

where evil spirits dwell and changes to a place where

it is possible to find life. The image of Upyrikha is

directly related to the image of the ominous forest.

The fragment about the trip to the forest and the

successful return of Upyrikha – «she returned safe» -

evokes fear of the supernatural, «after all, no one

returned from the forest alive». The image of the

forest is a metaphor for Upyrikha: seemingly an evil,

scary, malicious old woman, Upyrikha turns into a

source of maternal strength and life wisdom.

Thus, we have come to the conclusion that the theme

of motherhood is one of the main ones in Guzel

Yakhina’s novel «Zuleikha Opens Her Eyes», which

is realized through the image of Upyrikha as the main

source of life’s wisdom and maternal boundless love.

Maternal instinct did not allow the heroine to leave

this world and leave her only son, Murtaza, in the care

of her daughter-in-law, who did not give birth to him.

The heroine's instinct for preserving the family allows

her to save her grandson's life in extreme situations:

Upyrikha is ready to cross the boundaries of the

unreal world and appear in the real world in the form

of a ghost.

REFERENCES

Basinsky P. Incredible. Obvious, Rossiyskaya Gazeta. –

M., 2015. Online source:

https://rg.ru/2015/12/14/basinskij.htm (06/10/2019).

Breininger O. Harsh “Baroque”: a new historical novel. –

M., 2022.

Pustovaya V. and Pogorelaya E. Аbout modern literature.

Genres, trends, prospects and even a list of mustreed

books https://textura.club/pustovaya-i-pogorelaya-o-

literature/. – M., 2019.

Pavlova N.I. Poetics of visuality in G. Yakhina’s novel

“My Children”: on the question of the phenomenon of

literary success. – Tver, 2018.

Ibragimova Sh.N. The theme of collectivization in Guzel

Yakhina’s novel “Zuleikha Opens Her Eyes.” –

Mozyr, 2020.

Sirota E. Linguistic and stylistic features of Guzel

Yakhina’s novel “Zuleikha Opens Her Eyes.” – M.,

2020.

Yakhina G. Zuleikha opens her eyes. – M., 2020.

PAMIR-2 2023 - The Second Pamir Transboundary Conference for Sustainable Societies- | PAMIR